NORFOLK -- Cathy Robins' room at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital is a busy one.
She had a kidney transplant on Tuesday to help her polycistic kidney disease.
"The kidneys themselves get cysts on them and they fill with fluid and they actually take over the functioning kidney material and they cause the kidneys to fail," she explains.
Her mother died from the same condition in 1983.
Robins' doctor said she was a perfect candidate for a preemptive transplant, getting ahead of the disease before she'd need dialysis.
It can take as long as six years to get a kidney because the waiting list is so long. Cathy didn't have to wait that long because her husband Jerry wanted to be the donor.
Testing began in October to see if he was a match. A couple of weeks later, they called to say what he already knew -- that he was a perfect match.
"He said, 'I don't know why they put me through all this testing. We knew we were a perfect match when we got married,'" Robins related.
For Jerry, the decision to donate a kidney was an easy one.
"I got two kidneys. I've only got one wife," he explained.
She's overwhelmed by his gift of love.
"I really feel like he's given me a second chance, so I say God has definitely blessed me with him as a husband and giving me a second chance at life with the kidney."
